Calling Big Bird: Sesame Street to help Syrian child refugees
The project aims to produce a customised version of Sesame Street for the young Syrian refugees which will be available on mobile phones. Photo: BBC
(Web Desk) – Sesame Street characters are now going to be used to help with ‘toxic stress’ on child refugees that have been displaced by war in Syria.
Under a $100m grant, the Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee will help teach child refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria using famous puppet characters from the children s television program - Sesame Street, reported the BBC.
The project also seeks to establish child development centres where parents will be able to bring children. Photo: BBC
The grant awarded by the Chicago-based John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation is one of the biggest single philanthropic donations to such an education project aiming to tackle the trauma of millions of young Syrian refugees.
The grant further aims to produce a customised version of Sesame Street for the young Syrian refugees which will be available on mobile phones. It will support literacy and numeracy, help to teach about relationships and encourage respect for others.
The project also seeks to establish child development centres where parents will be able to bring children.
The grant further aims to produce a customised version of Sesame Street for the young Syrian refugees which will be available on mobile phones. Photo: BBC
Julia Stasch, president of the foundation, said this would be “the largest early childhood intervention program ever created in a humanitarian setting”. “Less than 2% of the global humanitarian aid budget is dedicated to education, and only a sliver of all education assistance benefits young children.”
“This may be our most important initiative ever,” said Jeffrey Dunn, head of Sesame Workshop adding that Syria’s refugee crisis was the “humanitarian issue of our time”.
